Common Groundsince 19822016-11-19T20:21:32Zhttp://commonground.ca/feed/atom/WordPresscommongroundhttp://commonground.ca/?p=114792016-11-08T08:19:51Z2016-11-04T18:46:51ZI’m standing between Shell and the Arctic – join me by Audrey Siegl • In June of 2015, First Nations artist and activist Audrey Siegl stood on a small boat, bravely confronting Shell’s 300-foot-tall Arctic drilling platform in Canadian waters off the coast of British Columbia on its way to the Alaskan Arctic. This is […]

Audrey Siegl, a Musqueam woman from BC, is a First Nations artist, activist, renowned public speaker and a drummer and singer. She stands in a Greenpeace rhib launched from the MY Esperanza holding her arm out in front her, defiantly signalling Shell’s subcontracted drilling rig, the Polar Pioneer, to stop.

• In June of 2015, First Nations artist and activist Audrey Siegl stood on a small boat, bravely confronting Shell’s 300-foot-tall Arctic drilling platform in Canadian waters off the coast of British Columbia on its way to the Alaskan Arctic. This is her message on why she took a stand against Shell. Audrey’s protest came less than a week after dozens of kayaktivists blocked Shell’s Arctic-bound rig for hours as it left the United States.

Editor’s note: Shell’s Polar Pioneer rig was last sighted in Saudi Arabia. The following is from a blogpost by April Glaser, September 29, 2015 www.greenpeace.org

You did it! Shell abandons Arctic drilling: This week, Shell announced plans to abandon its Arctic oil drilling operations. This is huge. From activists who scaled Shell’s rig in April or who stopped one of Shell’s ships this July, to the millions of people all over the world who signed petitions, paraded with polar bears, shared stories and helped organize for real environmental justice, this is YOUR victory. Thank you.

This morning, I faced off with Shell’s Arctic drilling rig, the Polar Pioneer. It was terrifying. But there are moments in life when, despite your fear, you must act.

I chose to stand face-to-face with this massive machine and use my voice to express my opposition to the devastating work Shell’s rig is on its way to do.

The truth is I am angry that, yet again, the voice of the people is being ignored. That corporations like Shell continue with their Arctic drilling plans despite over seven million people telling them to stop. I am angry that the best interests of the people are being shoved aside to accommodate corporate greed. I am scared that our future is being sacrificed for oil companies that would seal our fate away with runaway climate change, all for more profiteering. Yet despite all this I will not be made to feel powerless again.

The First Nations have had our rights and freedom stripped from us for centuries. We are the original stewards of this land and water. For that reason, I will continue to use my voice and presence to protect what is sacred. If that means staring down a ginormous machine in the middle of the ocean, I’ll do it. All I have is my voice, my body and the truth I speak. I will not be bullied and coerced into silence and inaction.

So the truth is we, the people, can turn this thing around. When we unite, become one and move with open minds and hearts, we are unstoppable. When we connect and stand as an indivisible and determined force for good, we can only succeed.

As a First Nations woman, I no longer accept inhumane treatment and violations that have been forced on my people for centuries. I no longer accept the lies that have been served up as the truth for centuries. We have been duped into believing that we have no power and no say from corporations like Shell. The truth is that we do have power. We do have a say. We just cannot stand idly by and let the destruction continue.

Shell places itself in opposition to all land defenders by pushing through with their Arctic drilling plans. Shell places itself in opposition to the First Nations who have said “No” to Arctic drilling. I stand with thousands of years of ancestors to say “No More!” I stand with indigenous women from around the world to say “No More!”

We are the life-givers. We are reclaiming our power. We are reclaiming our dignity. We are reclaiming our rightful place on the lands we love and sea that we care for. We stand for preserving and protecting the land and water that have sustained life since the first sunrise. We will carry on the work of my ancestors.

Whether in the Arctic, in Canada, in Asia, in South America, in Europe or anywhere in the world, we must unite and empower each other and ourselves. Our job is to use our voices and presence to shine a light on injustice. We must be indivisible. We must always know what we are up against but even more importantly, we must know what we are protecting. That is why we must unite and be one in our fight together.

]]>0commongroundhttp://commonground.ca/?p=114672016-11-08T08:21:21Z2016-11-04T18:36:06Zby Bruce Mason • It’s absolutely essential to understand as much as you can about Christy Clark’s increasingly controversial Site C Dam. We’re all on the hook for nine billion, at the very least, but most likely for much more. $9,000,000,000+ for the most expensive, unnecessary and destructive project in BC’s history. Our children and […]

• It’s absolutely essential to understand as much as you can about Christy Clark’s increasingly controversial Site C Dam. We’re all on the hook for nine billion, at the very least, but most likely for much more. $9,000,000,000+ for the most expensive, unnecessary and destructive project in BC’s history. Our children and grandchildren will also bear the costs down the line of this greedy elite theft from our public commons.

Nightmarish hydro bills, increasing and unfair taxes, reduced services, environmental carnage and trampled human rights – still before the courts – are the tip of the unrealized true total. This tally is growing exponentially, along with the opposition. And it’s difficult to determine any public benefit. A few highly paid temporary jobs will enable the creation of electricity that costs more to produce than its market value – for fossil fuel extraction the world no longer requires, or wants. Yet another boom, followed by the familiar and inevitable, bust. “Beautiful.” “Super.” “Natural.” BC.

In the meantime, our premier – who changes her mind about why – frantically pushes full speed ahead, in her words, “past the point of no return,” before the election in May. Please be warned, the damage already done, which will never be undone, was done behind our backs, without full disclosure, consultation or permission. Photographs of Site C will break the heart of anyone with a healthy beat.

The Peace in Peril: The Real Cost of the Site C Dam, a book to be released November 26th (Harbour Publishing) – pre-order at your favourite bookstore and make sure they get copies – adds to our evolving perception and perspective. “Independent journalist” [remember them?] Christopher Pollon canoed the 93-kilometre flood zone and talked to folks who inhabit it – the ones losing everything – as their forebears have, for at least 11,000 years. He paddled around thousands of acres of rich farmland, forests, 50 islands, ancient graves and sacred sites, all soon to be gone, forever. “How will lives, human and otherwise, be erased or irrevocably altered when the next great flood rises up to engulf the Peace River valley?” he asks.

Pollon has no axe to grind, no specific cause to flaunt. And he took along photojournalist Ben Nelms to share the experience. Few of us have actually laid eyes on the breathtaking paradise that is the Peace River valley. It’s been mostly hidden (thankfully) and less travelled in BC’s northeast corner, on both sides of the Rockies. Two years ago, only four in 10 of us had even heard of Site C, previous proposals having been turned down in more rigorous processes now internationally known in headlines for all the wrong reasons.

This is literature in a hurry, and rightly so. There isn’t much time. Ranchers and farmers will be evicted before Christmas. And Christy and her cronies are giddily tossing millions of tax dollars into thin air, while bullying their way through the very real collateral damage of Clark’s fracked gas wet dream.

Non-partisan, non-academic, part travel, part journalism, the book encapsulates a journey into the heart of darkness of an unfolding boondoggle and has been described as “bumbling.” For example, the duo touches off a region-wide panic when they neglect a daily check-in, amusing residents and needlessly aggravating search and rescue.

But they also begin to piece together the frustratingly complex jigsaw that includes some 60 mammal species, at least 215 types of birds, more than six kinds of amphibians and 30 types of fish. Concerns include sloughing (pronounced “sloffing”) – the sliding of clay, shale and silt from both banks. They fill in some history. In the 1960s, the Williston Reservoir, created by the W.A.C. Bennett Dam, included a vast aquatic wasteland, so thick in some places you could walk across 4,000 acres of floating, woody debris, dotted by a count of 12,500 moose carcases. That pales alongside Site C.

Pollon introduces some colourful, disheartened locals who have lived a life, defined and stunted by the reality, the shocks, and the shadows of otherworldly BC hydroelectricity, including the “jobs at any cost” crowd. Sixty-eight year-old Vic Gouldie relied on work building dams to raise his family and will lose part of his trapline to Site C. His comments are representative of some working people; if not eloquent, then at least, honest, his rancour for environmentalists peppered with expletives: “These fucking idiots who come up here to save the Peace, they have this big rally and weenie roast and say it will be gone forever! It will be a big improvement.”

As he sees it, when the dam – projected to be completed in 2024 – and its apocalyptic flood is done, there will be three big lakes. “This will be the Okanagan of the north. People will say it will be all fucked up and it will be. Maybe for my lifetime, but not for yours. If you have property up here, you’ll be sitting on a gold mine,” he tells Pollon.

The author also searches out the likes of 91-year-old Vernon Ruskin at his perch in the Royal Vancouver Yacht Club. He oversaw the design and planning for all three Peace dams: (1) W.A.C. Bennett; (2) Peace Canyon; and (3) Christy Clark? Ruskin reports the latter was re-designed for no apparent reason other than to put money into select pockets. “Now it takes more concrete, more rock fill, and so on. It’s also weaker. So we have to reinforce it more for earthquakes,” he explains, noting that contractors bid on whatever the traffic will bear.

Even Bill Bennett, our wilfully ignorant and wildly arrogant Energy Minister, recently admitted, “There can be no amount of money, no decision by any government, that will be consolation for those families. It is a very unfortunate and sad situation. I trust that they will be dealt with fairly by BC Hydro.” He “trusts.”

Bennett, who won’t be running in the upcoming election, was responding to a Union of BC Municipalities call for a halt to Site C for further study. “Out of their depth,” he said of hundreds of experts and elected civic governments.

The Peace in Peril provides one more deeper glimpse below the surface, an eyewitness and everyperson account. It may appear that Christy and Company is taking a high-risk gamble, against all odds and advice, with our hard-earned money. In actuality, they are grabbing all the cash they can. The only gamble is that we are too distracted, too uninformed, misinformed, or stupid, to notice.

Our options are: get on the gravy train, if we can; stop it, if we care; and finally, vote for people who work within our best interests and values. Meanwhile, the bills are in the mail, with your name and address on them. Any costs that can’t be immediately monetized will be borne by your offspring. Assuming you are fortunate enough to have them and the glacial melt doesn’t dry up the water source making the whole mess moot.

Thanks to Pollon, Nelms and the publisher for more evidence – already voluminous – of why we must stop Site C through direct, informed action on the ground, in social media, on the street, in conversation, in court and in polling booths. Starting right NOW!

]]>5commongroundhttp://commonground.ca/?p=114902016-11-08T08:23:26Z2016-11-03T18:55:08ZMake sure your Vitamin D score is between 100-150 nmol/L • With Canadian vitamin D levels dropping year after year, the Vitamin D Society is kicking off its 8th Annual Vitamin D Awareness Month with Vitamin D Day on November 2nd to help spread the message across the country. The Society is using the month […]

• With Canadian vitamin D levels dropping year after year, the Vitamin D Society is kicking off its 8th Annual Vitamin D Awareness Month with Vitamin D Day on November 2nd to help spread the message across the country.

The Society is using the month to bring vitamin D deficiency to light for Canadians who may not understand the effects that a lack of vitamin D can have on the human body.

“Vitamin D deficiency can lead to a higher risk of serious diseases, such as cancer, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, multiple sclerosis, osteoporosis and others,” says Dr. Gerry Schwalfenberg, scientific advisor for the Society and an assistant clinical professor at the University of Alberta. “The month of November is crucial for Canadians because it is the start of our vitamin D winter. The low angle of the sun means that sunlight no longer produces vitamin D in our skin, therefore, it’s important to examine your vitamin D levels to ensure your body isn’t at risk.”

Approximately 12 million Canadians do not meet vitamin D blood level requirements of 50 nmol/L set by Health Canada and the Institute of Medicine. This figure rises to 14 million – 40 percent of us – during winter months. The Vitamin D Society recommends Canadians raise their mean level of vitamin D higher, to at least 100 nmol/L year-round, to receive the full benefits of the sunshine vitamin. Vitamin D Day is a chance for Canadians to join the *pledge to increase vitamin D levels.

“People wonder why so many Canadians are vitamin D deficient and it’s simple, really. We mainly get vitamin D from non-burning sun exposure, but Canadians are now living indoor lifestyles more than ever, even in the summer,” says Perry Holman, executive director for the Vitamin D Society. “When we avoid the sun, our vitamin D levels are going to be much lower than they should be. With winter fast approaching, and Canadians spending more time indoors, it’s vital that everyone take action to ensure their vitamin D levels don’t drop until it’s nice enough to get back outside and enjoy the sun.”

During winter months, the Vitamin D Society recommends Canadians use artificial UVB sources or supplements. When spring returns, Canadians can go back to getting their vitamin D from non-burning exposure to the sun.

Canadians can get their vitamin D levels checked by their physicians, or online at www.vitamindcouncil.org/testkit, through a simple 25(OH)D blood test to ensure they aren’t deficient. Make sure your score is between 100-150 nmol/L.

The Vitamin D Society is a Canadian non-profit group organized to increase awareness of the many health conditions strongly linked to vitamin D deficiency; encourage people to be proactive in protecting their health and have their vitamin D levels tested annually; and help fund valuable vitamin D research. The Vitamin D Society recommends people achieve and maintain optimal 25(OH)D blood levels between 100-150 nmol/L (Can) or 40-60 ng/ml (USA).

]]>0commongroundhttp://commonground.ca/?p=114862016-11-19T20:21:32Z2016-11-03T18:52:24ZSubmitted by Barrie Zwicker • 2013 Canada Day terrorist plot was a “police-manufactured crime.” – Madam Justice Catherine Bruce of the BC Supreme Court If ever two dots needed connecting, it’s Bill C-51 and the historic judgment of the BC Supreme Court in the case of the so-called “Canada Day Terror Plot” in 2013 […]

If ever two dots needed connecting, it’s Bill C-51 and the historic judgment of the BC Supreme Court in the case of the so-called “Canada Day Terror Plot” in 2013 in Victoria.

On July 29, 2016, Madam Justice Catherine Bruce, in a 344-page ruling, struck down the terrorism convictions of John Nuttall and Amanda Korody, impoverished recovering heroin addicts with mental health challenges. She called the so-called “terrorist plot” a “police-manufactured crime.”

The Mounties devoted more than 200 officers and spent millions to aid and abet the crime. A Globe and Mail editorial on August 4, 2016, observed, “The accused pair could not have managed a bomb attack on the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia without the RCMP’s step-by-step guidance.” Some counter-terrorism.

In another Globe story on October 22 last, headlined “RCMP Shifts Focus to Fighting Terrorism” national security writer Colin Freeze reports with good evidence to back it up that, in effect, mobsters, drug dealers and tax evaders can breathe a sigh of relief. The RCMP has decided these types of suspected criminals are far less worthy as targets of surveillance, disruption and entrapment than is the noun “terrorism.”

Taxpayer money worse than squandered; it’s put to illicit use to mislead the taxpayers (citizens)

Money invested in clandestine entrapments comes at the expense of basic policing services, says ex-Mountie Rob Creasser, head of the Mounted Police Professional Association of Canada.

The large change in the RCMP’s resource allocations reported in the Globe – and the ramifications –must be faced squarely by your Committee. They impact both sides of your mandate: public safety, which is compromised, and the voodoo phrase “national security,” used to trigger widespread fear and anxiety leading to public acquiescence in unjustified increases in police and “intelligence” agency budgets. If the Victoria police duplicity is tolerated, it will only invite more of the same. Already Victoria is not unique.

“Threat” of “terrorism” vastly inflated

Last August 12, an editorial in the Globe drove home with unanswerable statistics that “terrorism” is blown far out of proportion as a threat. A 2011 article in Scientific American put the annual risk, over a 37-year period, of a Canadian dying in a terrorist incident to be one in 3,800,000.

The U.S. National Counter Terrorism Center notes that Americans are just as likely to be “crushed to death by their televisions or furniture each year” as they are to be killed by terrorists. The August 12 Globe editorial noted, “By any reasonable count, the number of terrorist attacks in Canada in 2015 was zero, or close to zero.”

Corruption of Canadian police forces by their US counterparts

This brings into sharper focus the ever-closer association of Canada’s intelligence agencies with the FBI that has built manufactured “terror plots” into a bizarre industry. Investigative reporter Trevor Aaronson, author of the 2013 book The Terror Factory: Inside the FBI’s Manufactured War on Terrorism, writes that as of 2011, the FBI was involved in more than 500 cases of “manufactured” terror. The FBI, he wrote, targets the mentally ill, the homeless, sometimes diagnosed schizophrenics, people unable to distinguish reality from a dream world.

So we have a trio of measuring sticks. “Terrorism,” in one Canadian instance at least, has been judicially declared manufactured, shown in official statistics to be a negligible threat and editorially affirmed as magnified.

A quartet of realities drives the “war on terror.” First, police “terror” frame-ups that are more common than this brief can address. Second, media complicity in these cases of “the propaganda of the act” through failure to question official narratives. Third, ensuing public fears and hatreds. Fourth, too many political leaders buying into the “fear industry.”

This in spite of a daunting history of documented false flag operations, including:

As reported by BBC (“Macedonia Faked ‘Militant’ Raid”) and the New York Times (“A Fake Macedonia Terror Tale That Led to Deaths”), Macedonian officials admitted in May 2004 that the government murdered seven innocent immigrants in cold blood and pretended that they were Al Qaeda members attempting to assassinate Macedonian police, in order for Macedonia to join the “war on terror.”

In 1990, Italian Prime Minister Giulio Andreotti admitted that terror bombings in Italy and other European countries, from at least 1969 to 1987, blamed on “communists” were, in fact, staged by covert rightist agents directed by the CIA and NATO. The purpose was to rally public support in “the fight against communism.”

Code-named Operation Gladio (the sword), the widespread fake terrorism took at least 491 lives during 14,591 acts of violence. Gladio’s bloody deceptions were attested to by General Gianadelio Maletti, former head of Italian military counter-intelligence in a March 2001 trial, reported in The Guardian and elsewhere. The shocking details are revealed in the 2005 book, NATO’s Secret Armies: Operation GLADIO and Terrorism in Western Europe, by Daniele Ganser, head of the Swiss Institute for Peace and Energy Research.

A now typical assignment of “security agents” in “the West” is to find those with deformed minds, deform them more and then have them charged with “terrorism.” Ultimately, it’s the public mind that is deformed.

A question for the Committee Members

Is it not one important task of this Committee to courageously take into account the history and tendency for this kind of anti-democratic clandestine wrongdoing to embed itself in police and “intelligence” agencies? True threats to individual Canadians, and to the country as a whole, derive, for instance, from global climate change, inadequate programs to address hunger, poverty and lack of affordable housing, and pollution, especially in aboriginal communities. Large enough to be counted a threat as well is throwing away taxpayer dollars on covert anti-democratic “anti-terrorism” deceptions that corrupt the agencies meant to protect Canadians, their rights, property and their civil liberties.

An unduly narrow report tilted toward police and security agencies’ interests and agendas will constitute a serious disservice to Canada.

Respectfully submitted,
Barrie Zwicker

—

Peace and truth activist Barrie Zwicker is the author of Towers of Deception: The Media Cover-up of 9/11, and a former journalist for the Globe and Mail and Toronto Star.

]]>0commongroundhttp://commonground.ca/?p=114752016-11-08T08:27:38Z2016-11-03T18:43:25ZConnecting the dots by Bruce Mason • Corporate media may be denying or ignoring their existence, but the world is awash in unprecedented, existential crises: from Syria to Standing Rock, global climate tipping points, to so-called trade deals that enable greedy elites to prevent action, from international anti-nuclear arms initiatives, to the ugly, unwelcome return […]

• Corporate media may be denying or ignoring their existence, but the world is awash in unprecedented, existential crises: from Syria to Standing Rock, global climate tipping points, to so-called trade deals that enable greedy elites to prevent action, from international anti-nuclear arms initiatives, to the ugly, unwelcome return of the Cold War. The army of so-called mainstream media journalists, increasingly irrelevant and nearing extinction, are paid to prop up the multi-national corporate agendas. Instead of calling it mass media, the more accurate moniker is corporate media.

We turn your attention instead to independent social media; just type the headlines below into your search bar.

A Last Stand for Lelu

One of the most informative and inspiring half-hours on the Internet is Farhan Umedaly’s courageously truthful and impressively artful, A Last Stand for Lelu (Tamos Campos is credited as co-producer). It just earned the award for Best Documentary Short at the prestigious 9th Annual Kuala Lumpur Eco Film Festival.

In the audience at his KL introduction and acceptance speech were officials from PETRONAS (Petroliam Nasional Berhad), Christy Clark’s bed partners in her fracked gas phantasmagoria. Umedaly is achieving the goal he set for his VoVo Productions: global impact for clients working towards a “positive future for humanity and our planet.” His mission: “films that have a positive impact in the world… opening doors that I can be proud to walk through.” A Last Stand for Lelu is his first documentary. He is also keen to have people accompany him on these less-travelled journeys. He released the documentary to the public – for free – at the request of the Lax Kw’alaams and those who stand to protect the vital Prince Rupert region.

A Last Stand for Lelu not only provides comprehension of the profoundly counterproductive and destructive project, but also, context for Justin Trudeau’s decision to support the Northwest LNG pipeline. Share the video with friends and family; it must be shown in classrooms everywhere, especially in Canada.

“Very important,” says marine biologist/activist Dr. Alexandra Morton of the film. “Unlike so many films, this is about now, not some time in the future. This is about integrity, strength and a vision for the future that includes our children and grandchildren. Look at the faces of the people in this film; it is healthy and good for us to take a stand. These are the forces of KNOW.”

The year-long Justin Trudeau honeymoon is ending unhappily now that the “children” have arrived. Dire storms are obliterating his “sunny ways,” perhaps the big important story of 2017, particularly as Millennials awaken and take note and action. Everyone can keep score (bookmark) with the superlative TrudeauMetre.ca, the non-partisan, collaborative citizen initiative that tracks his election promises. At press time, on his 363rd day in power, Trudeau had not yet started on 95 of his well-documented 219 platform planks, 64 were in progress, 34 had been achieved and 26 had been broken, since taking office.

All eyes are on the umming and ahhing PM who must make a decision on the despised Kinder Morgan pipeline in December. A must-read is Andrew Nikiforuk’s (Tyee) comprehensive article, Four Harsh Truths for Canada’s Lovestruck Pipeline Politicians: A reality check for our bitumen-besotted leaders.

Among the fossil fuel addicts and pushers who need to take note – but will likely require an intervention – are sisters-in-arms Rachel Motley and Christy Clark, Haper-lite Trudeau, Calgary Mayor Naheed Nenshi, who wants more pipelines to carry the “sins of the carbon economy” and Saskatchewan Premier Brad Wall, who categorizes proposals to limit climate change as “misguided dogma.”

The four obvious reasons why more pipelines don’t make economic, energy or climate sense are: 1) There is no way to clean up bitumen spills (forget the nonsensical distractions about spill recovery, “World-Class” or otherwise); 2) The economic case for pipelines has totally collapsed; 3) Bitumen cannibalizes the economy; 4) Climate disruption and carbon anarchy aren’t a distant threat; they’re here now.

Two more dam exposés from DeSmog

Also among the near-viral, on-line information are two recent and compelling DeSmog posts:

Exclusive New Photos: The B.C. Government’s Frantic Push to Get Site C Dam Past ‘Point of No Return” and Cutting Through the Spin on the Site C Dam with Harry Swain.

Thanks to donations from readers, DeSmog Canada was able to send photographer Garth Lenz to the Peace to capture the ongoing construction and the landscapes and lives that stand to be affected by Site C Dam. The little known devastating destruction will alarm all who see it, as yet confined to the proposed dam (being contested in court); as documented by Lenz, 80 kilometres of river valley remain untouched at the current stage.

There are voluminous arguments against Christy Clark’s controversial plan for the Site C Dam in the Peace River Valley: it floods First Nations land against their consent, destroys precious farmland that could feed millions, expropriates land from families and farmer and increases the cost of electricity that we don’t need and can’t afford, etc.

Site C wasn’t properly reviewed, especially in terms of renewable, job-rich alternatives. But are there any upsides? Emma Gilchrist, who has spent several years working on the story, asks Harry Swain, appointed by the BC government to chair the joint review panel. He discusses some common justifications. It is invaluable and enlightening to listen, finally, to someone honest and qualified.

Weeks after Texas fuel barge Nathan E. Stewart and tugboat sank, most of the 200,000 litres of fuel on-board escaped into the water, poisoning abalones, herring, urchins, anemones, kelp, sea stars and more. As whales swim through the still sickening slick, politicians point fingers and duck responsibility for the destruction of one of the most productive food sources on the coast, and the loophole that allows such traffic in the Inside Passage. Even without a qualified local pilot. All shellfish harvesting remains closed and could be off-limits for years, depriving the Heiltsuk Nation and nearby communities of abundant traditional and commercial food sources. The futile and ineffective response is being documented, a turning point in the long-standing battle to ban tanker traffic, or the start of irreversible damage to BC’s beloved coast. Let’s keep it up and help the Heiltsuk Nation by browsing their website and following Ingmar Lee, a passionate, long-time environmentalist who has warned of the tragedy for some time.

Editor’s note: At the end of October, DeSmog Canada published a video about the Site C Dam, which, after generating nearly 120,000 views in 36 hours, was suddenly removed by Facebook due to a complaint filed by a BC government contractor. Fear not, there is a new cut. This is the video they didn’t want you to see. Read more about the complaint at http://bit.ly/2fdejyn

]]>1commongroundhttp://commonground.ca/?p=114732016-11-08T08:30:05Z2016-11-03T18:39:37Zby Canadian Peace Initiative • Canada has a proud history of peacekeeping. Now, more than ever, we need Canada to take leadership and open the road to peace for the rest of the world. The call is out to establish a Department of Peace on our 150th birthday. We have the opportunity to bring a […]

• Canada has a proud history of peacekeeping. Now, more than ever, we need Canada to take leadership and open the road to peace for the rest of the world.

The call is out to establish a Department of Peace on our 150th birthday. We have the opportunity to bring a beacon of light to the fragile state of our planet, racked by war, devastation and fear.

This is not a far-fetched idea, but something tangible that the Canadian Peace Initiative has worked on for years. Right now, a unique opportunity is open: You can directly ask Canada to increase its capabilities in peace leadership.

Until November 25, 2016, the House of Commons is hosting the CPI’s e-petition, calling for a federal department of peace. This non-partisan petition is sponsored by MP Borys Wrzesnewskyj. It’s time for Canada to build on our international legacy of making the world less violent and more peaceful. Please support this Parliamentary Petition to create a Ministry of Peace in Canada. To sign the petition, go to http://canadianpeaceinitiative.ca/get-involved/sign-the-petition/

The Canadian Peace Initiative is a nonpartisan, non-profit organization with an aim to increase the capacity for peace-building within the Canadian federal government. Similar departments already exist in three other countries.

Canada has a greater role to play in reducing the mass suffering and death caused by war, terrorism and violence, whether domestically or around the world. Join us in demanding that our government establish a Department of Peace.

There is currently no strategic focus for peace in government, and there has rarely been a greater urgency or a better window of opportunity to consider the creation of a Department of Peace in our country. This is one of the principle aims of the Canadian Peace Initiative. We see that Canada has an important role to play in the prevention of violence and the resolution of conflicts at home and abroad.

The Canadian Peace Initiative is committed to the establishment of a Department of Peace within the Government of Canada. The Department of Peace would work towards building a new architecture of peace by establishing a culture of peace and assertive non-violence in Canada and the world. We are part of a growing international movement.

The mandate of the Minister of Peace would be to reinvigorate Canada’s role as a peacekeeper and peacebuilder as follows:

1. Develop early detection and rapid response processes to deal with emerging conflicts and establish systemic responses to post-conflict demobilization, reconciliation and reconstruction.

2. Lead internationally to abolish nuclear, biological and chemical weapons, to reduce conventional weapon arsenals and to ban the weaponization of space.

3. Implement the UN Declaration and Programme of Action on a Culture of Peace (1999) to safeguard human rights and enhance the security of persons and their communities.

4. Implement UN Resolution 1325 on the key role played by women in the wide spectrum of peace-building work.

5. Establish a Civilian Peace Service that, with other training organizations, will recruit, train and accredit peace professionals and volunteers to work at home and abroad, as an alternative to armed intervention.

6. Address issues of violence in Canada by promoting non-violent approaches that encourage community involvement and responsibility, such as Restorative Justice, Nonviolent Communication (NVC) and Alternate Dispute Resolution (ADR).

7. Support the development of peace education at all levels, including post-secondary peace and conflict studies.

With a growing list of supporters, individuals and groups, our supporters now represent over two million Canadians.

“At the macro level, when the Prime Minister needs advice when making policy or program choices about peace, there is a big vacuum. There is no strategic focus for peace in government.” – Bill Bhaneja, former Senior Policy Advisor, Foreign Affairs & International Trade

“The Canadian Department of Peace Initiative is the right action at the right time… as more and more citizens and politicians recognize and act upon the human right to peace.” – The Honourable Doug Roche, former Canadian Ambassador for Disarmament

“A ministry of peace could be a place where peace-building activities could be consolidated and [where we could] develop techniques for reconciliation.” – The Honourable Lloyd Axworthy, former Minister of Foreign Affairs Canada

“Years hence, when every country has a Ministry of Peace, people will look back and ask, ‘What took us so long?’ After all, we have a ministry for almost everything else: health, education and so on. How odd that, of all things, we have no ministries of peace.” – Sakyong Mipham Rinpoche, spiritual leader, Shambhala International

“The idea of establishing a department of peace is beyond overdue. We must strive to become a beacon of hope. We must usher in a new era of conflict resolution. We know how to live harmoniously in our great country. We now need to share this knowledge with the world.” – Senator Mobina Jaffer

“The creation of a Ministry for Peace… is not the final achievement, merely the making of a road to achieve a sustainable order that would allow resolution of human conflicts without violence.” – Dr. Oscar Arias, former president of Costa Rica and Nobel Peace Laureate

]]>3commongroundhttp://commonground.ca/?p=114642016-11-08T08:43:45Z2016-11-03T18:27:22ZPresented by the Wilderness Committee www.wildernesscommittee.org • Wednesday, November 30, 6:30-9PM At SFU Woodward’s, 149 W. Hastings St., Vancouver Tickets $10 – order at toadpeople.brownpapertickets.com What does it take to save a species? A film about hope, community and the struggle to save species at risk in BC. We are thrilled to announce the […]

What does it take to save a species? A film about hope, community and the struggle to save species at risk in BC. We are thrilled to announce the world premiere of our hotly anticipated documentary film Toad People. We hope you will save the date in your calendars and join us there.

Toad People is an inspiring documentary about communities across BC fighting to protect species at risk, such as the western toad and barn owl. This film isn’t just about people standing up for toads. People living in BC know we have remarkable wildlife no other province boasts: killer whales, grizzly bears, barn owls and badgers.

Many people don’t realize that BC has no standalone endangered species legislation. With the provincial election around the corner, now is the time to change that.

After Vancouver, we’re hitting the road to screen Toad People in interior BC, Vancouver Island and northern BC.

]]>0commongroundhttp://commonground.ca/?p=114522016-11-08T08:34:57Z2016-11-03T18:13:47Zby Citizens for Choice in Healthcare • Open letter to Prime Minister, Right Honourable Justin Trudeau; Minister of Health, Honourable Jane Philpott; and Deputy Minister of Health, Simon Kennedy I object to Health Canada’s (HC’s) proposals to classify Natural Health Products (NHPs) with prescription drugs! It is no secret in Ottawa that the pharmaceutical industry […]

Common Ground, along with many other organizations, businesses, and millions of natural health products customers across Canada, for decades have demanded that the government of the day leave our very safe natural products alone. They are not drugs and should be respected as such by giving then their own Natural Health Products Act.

I object to Health Canada’s (HC’s) proposals to classify Natural Health Products (NHPs) with prescription drugs! It is no secret in Ottawa that the pharmaceutical industry exerts massive influence on HC, and HC’s excuses for these proposals, based on safety and claims, are invalid. I urge you to use my tax dollars to support the creation of a new Natural Health Products Act (NHPA) to protect my access and freedom of choice.

In over 60 years in Canada, involving far in excess of 100,000 NHPs, taken by millions of Canadians daily, totalling billions to trillions of doses, the death total is zero (0). This makes NHPs safer than food or water and means that HC legally has no jurisdiction over NHPs since the Food and Drugs Act only grants HC powers over substances that pose a demonstrable risk, not made-up, theoretical risks with no actual occurrences like HC poses for NHPs.

Conversely, according to a report by past MP, Terence Young, as many as 20,000 Canadians die each year from pharmaceuticals, hence, over a million deaths in the same 60-year time period. And HC is proposing to regulate them together based on safety? This is absurd.

Not surprisingly, HC’s proposals come now with the Liberal government signalling they will sign the misleadingly named “free-trade deals” with Europe and Asia, i.e. CETA and TPP, which contain allowances for expansion of pharmaceutical patents and massive losses of Canadian sovereignty in all areas of our lives. See www.canadianbankreformers.ca for an important update and call to action on CETA. Huge pharmaceutical companies such as Bayer hold hundreds of use-patents on NHPs. (Eg: www.google.com/patents/US20140271923) Such patents use the most advanced research and put to rest claims by media and medicine that there is no evidence for NHPs. Big Pharma is running out of drugs, and coming for them. Consider this patent, which outlines a tablet delivery system for several hundred NHPs: http://www.google.ca/patents/US8883205

To create a single marketplace, regulations between Trade Agreement member nations must be “harmonized,” and restrictions on NHPs are being attempted in countries around the globe. This is occurring under the auspices of the International Coalition of Medicines Regulatory Authority, (ICMRA), and until recently, Health Canada was both chairing and acting as the secretariat for this group. As its regulatory model, ICMRA is using the EU where pharmaceutical companies control all aspects of healthcare.

This is HC’s third attempt to group NHPs with prescription drugs. The first came in 1997 after they were directed to partner with the pharmaceutical industry, and HC immediately came out with the Establishment Licensing Act. Canadians protested vehemently and the Act was stopped. The Standing Committee on Health performed extensive investigations, and in its final report specifically ruled out regulating NHPs as DRUGS. Parliament came out with 53 Recommendations; #1 was to amend the Food and Drugs Act to provide NHPs with a category distinct from either Foods or Drugs.

Yet HC subverted things and placed NHPS as DRUGS anyways. This was a set-up. They tried again to apply prescription drug regulations to NHPs in 2008 with Bill C51. Again, Canadians revolted and again the Bill did not proceed. So now, HC has united the departments for NHPs and OTC pharmaceuticals. As Drugs, NHPs are forced to make approved claims. HC is now using claims they approved as justification for tighter controls.

If these proposals are allowed to go forward, mass suffering will be inflicted on untold numbers of Canadians who rely on NHPs for their health, as their NHPS incrementally disappear.

The time has come for a Natural Health Products Act to protect Canadians’ access and well being, and the groundwork has already been laid. The Committees have investigated. Parliament has already decided what should happen. The department and regulatory system already exists in the Natural Health Products Directorate, and the framework for the new Act has already been written in The Charter of Health Freedom.

As a citizen of Canada, help me protect and make decisions about my own wellbeing that are rightfully mine, and push for a new NHP Act. Preserve my birthright to look after my own health.

]]>1commongroundhttp://commonground.ca/?p=114482016-11-08T08:37:22Z2016-11-03T00:03:02ZNUTRISPEAK by Vesanto Melina • A decade ago, climate change and global warming seemed somewhat theoretical to some of us, but evidence is now showing up in our everyday lives. In many parts of the world, these changes are being linked with the rising frequency and severity of extreme weather events: floods, storms and […]

• A decade ago, climate change and global warming seemed somewhat theoretical to some of us, but evidence is now showing up in our everyday lives. In many parts of the world, these changes are being linked with the rising frequency and severity of extreme weather events: floods, storms and droughts. Warmer temperatures tend to produce more violent weather patterns. Events of concern in BC include heavy rainfall and snowfalls, heat waves and drought. These have led to floods, landslides, water shortages, forest fires, reduced air quality, damaged property, and illness and mortality. Since 1983, payouts by Canadian insurance companies for damages resulting from natural disasters have doubled every five years.

In BC, we have a number of lively and inspired organizations that focus on environmental topics, including anti-pipeline topics.

The cheapest and most sensible approach to reducing greenhouse gases from the current 732 megatonnes to a 2020 target of 620 megatonnes involves shrinking the oil and gas industry by limiting bitumen extraction, and not building more pipelines. (David Hughes, Pro-Pipeline-Fantasies-Knocked-Down)

Until recently, few environmental organizations featured dietary choices on their websites; the film Cowspiracy highlighted the disconnection between such organizations and their recommendations. Yet things are changing, with leadership such as the UN’s Environmental Program (UNEP). The expert panel of UNEP concluded that two activities have a disproportionately large effect on the planet’s life-support systems: (1) Animal agriculture – especially raising livestock for meat and dairy. (2) The use of fossil fuels.

As a consequence, the UNEP recommends a global shift towards a plant-based diet. The National Academy of Sciences has determined that, in three decades, we could reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 27% if we simply eat more fruits and vegetables and eat less meat, sugar and calories, and by 70% if we eat a vegan diet. This year, they strongly urge a global shift to a plant-based diet.

The David Suzuki Foundation points to the connection between food and climate change in the link: food-and-climate-change

The Earth Aware Toastmasters club is an interesting local group in which to explore environmental issues and share topics and perspectives. It meets Monday evenings, 7-9 pm, 1440 West 12th Ave., 2nd floor (12th & Hemlock), earthawaretm@gmail.com. Toastmasters is a non-profit organization that assists people in gathering an immense range of skills related to public speaking. This particular group, like many in the lower mainland, hosts a wide range of ages and diverse skills, from shy beginners to accomplished professionals. For many, English is a second language. This club recently celebrated its 25th birthday, having evolved from an EarthSave Toastmasters group that began in 1991. Each week features an environmental update. Some topics focus on the care of our planet; many other areas are explored as well, and some are just plain fun.

]]>0commongroundhttp://commonground.ca/?p=114442016-11-17T00:16:25Z2016-11-02T23:51:19ZUNIVERSE WITHIN by Gwen Randall-Young • With all its sham, drudgery and broken dreams, it is still a beautiful world. – Max Ehrmann, Desiderata. Do you know anyone who seems always to be negative? Has anyone said this about you? Negativity is caused by our perception. Perception means what we perceive, what we see. […]

• With all its sham, drudgery and broken dreams, it is still a beautiful world.– Max Ehrmann, Desiderata.

Do you know anyone who seems always to be negative? Has anyone said this about you? Negativity is caused by our perception. Perception means what we perceive, what we see. It is the lens through which we see the world. It can also be what we choose to focus on.

We have all met people who have very little that is positive to say. They are down on the boss, the employees, the government, the weather, the football/hockey team and perhaps even themselves.

Sometimes misery loves company. If two or more people enjoy seeing the worst in every situation, they may enjoy each other’s company. They get validation from each other, which only confirms that how they see the world is how it is. However, they are likely not happy people – not the ones looking for solutions that work for everyone. They see a situation as terrible while perpetuating the situation by not even attempting to make positive contributions.

Even if others around the negative person are trying to keep a positive outlook, that negativity can suck all of the energy out of the room. Expressions that are negative, judgmental and critical of other people are toxic and suppress the immune system of everyone exposed to it. We can disagree with policies, positions or decisions without making personal attacks.

We all belong to the same tribe. If something doesn’t seem right and we use our wisdom and intelligence to improve the situation, the whole tribe benefits and evolves. If we say the leader is an idiot and retreat to our caves to talk endlessly about how bad he is, the tribe devolves. We are stronger together if we share our wisdom and focus on healing rather than hating.

This applies on the individual level, in relationships, in the community and on the global stage. Yes, and also on the playground.

If we are negative with our children, they will be insecure and either become meek with low self esteem or become negative towards others. If we are negative towards our partner, that will create cracks in the relationship. It will either end or continue with bitterness, resentment and unhappiness.

If we want to be happy, and our happiness depends on the world reshaping itself for us, it is never going to happen. The only way to be happy is to choose to be happy about what is good in our lives and in the world, and to focus on that with gratitude.

If one has the attitude that everything sucks and everyone is out to take advantage of them, and they really don’t like people, it leads to a miserable existence.

Yes, life can be hard and we can become discouraged. Bad things do sometimes happen, and it is not always fair. But if you are on a team and you say, “We suck, we will never win, they cheat and the refs are on their side!” you won’t even try and you bring the whole team down.

Our time on Earth is like a vacation in that it is not permanent, and it will be over before we know it. It is what we make it. In his book, Man’s Search for Meaning, Viktor Frankl expresses the view that we cannot always control the circumstances of our lives, but we can control how we react to them. It is a choice.

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Gwen Randall-Young is an author and psychotherapist in private practice. For articles and information about her books, “Deep Powerful Change” hypnosis CDs and “Creating Effective Relationships” series, visit www.gwen.ca and also Like Gwen on Facebook.